Signature-gatherer.



No. 685,535. Patented 0st. 29, |901. J. E. SMYTH.,

SIGNATURE GATHEBER.

(Application led Sept. 8, 1899. Renewed May 2, 1901.)

(No Model.)

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Uivrrnn STATES IPl-frmxrfr FFiCE,

lJOSEPH E. SMYTH, 'OF PASADENA, CALIFORNIA.

'SIGNATU'RE-GATHERER.

sPncIFIoATIoN forming part of 'Letters Patent No. 685,535, cated october`29, 19er. Appntaion fueasepteeber 8,1899. numana-2,1901. saranno.satte. (Nmaen To all when?, t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEH E. SMY'iH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Pasadena, in the county of Los Angeles and State ofCalifornia', have invented .anA Improvement in Signature-Gathere'rs, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to an improveinent upon the devicelshownand described in my application for Letters Patent, Serial No. 674,576,iiled March 21, 1898, and duly allowed May 20, 1899. In the device ofthe lsaid application the signatures contained in the respective boxesof the machine were removed one at a time by a reciprocating motionimparted to the table-sections supporting the signatures, and thismovement was imparted after asuction apparatus was brought intooperation to draw down the folded-back edge of the signature, so thatthe moving table intervened between thelowermost signature thus held andthe signatures above to support the signatures above and to separate thelowermost signatures from the piles of signatures.

ln my present invention the signatures are removed by pairs of grippers,and the invention relates especially thereto and to a device foractuating the said pairs of grippers andv for actuating the hingedseparators or suction-boxes. 1 provide a lever operated by a crank froma suitable source of power, the

crank engaging the mortise of the said lever.

The lever actuates links, which in turn impart longitudinal movements tobars, one set of which aetuates the grippers to remove the lowermostsignatures of the piles and another set the hinged grippers or suctionboxes. The grippers are opened and shut by pairs of parallel-moving bars'actuated by a rocker and cam, the same being supported by the barscarrying the gripper-shafts and actuated by the reciprocating movementof said bars.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a partial section and elevationillustrative of the essential features of my invention. Fig. 2 is anelevation and partial section at one side of the machine, representingapproximately half of the machine. Fig. 3 is an elevation representingthe bars for operating the hinged separators or suction devices. Fig.- 4is a section of the table and one of these boxes in position at the lineoc of Fig. 2; and Fig. 5 is a similar section at the line @j y of Fig.-2 through the grippers and showing the grippers as engaging thefolded-back edge of a signature.

The mortised lever f, pivoted upon the cross-shaft 2 and actuated by thecrank g from a suitable source of power, the table o, and the endlessbelt p., with plates 15, for moving along the lsuperposed signatures asdeposited upon the table 0,*are devices similar to those described in.my aforesaid application. -The exhaust-pipe lc and the pipes '10,extending therefrom, and the suctionboxes or hinged separators 7l,connected by hinges 9 to the table-sections d, are also similar to thedevices described in my aforesaid application. Said suction-boxes orseparators have apertures or opeuin gs atv?, through which the suctionacts.

The bars ct, supported upon arms a from tures, are lalso similar to thedevices of the aforesaid application. I have shownasupporting-bar c fromthe arm a at one end of the frame and as connected forlsupporting theendtable-section d. I j

The links h h are connected to the upper end of themortise-lever f. Thelink his pivoted to a cross-shaft h2 at the rear ends of the bars e e,and the link h yis connected to a cross-shaft h3 at the rear ends of theslotted bars n. The bars e e have connected to and extending throughthem the hollow shafts 3 and the shafts 4, extending through said hollowshafts. The 4grippers are represented at r'. They are'in pairs, and onegripper of each pair is connected to the hollowshaft Sand the othergripper of each pair to the internal shaft 4, the hollow shaft 3 havingopenings at the proper places for the connection of Vsai grippers.

The hollow shafts 3 carry rocker-arms 5 IOO and the shafts 4 carryrocker-arms 6, and i lbars 7 and 8, that are parallel and in the same fplane, are pivoted to the free ends of the said VIo 7 and 8 areconnected to links 13 14, and their free ends are connected to aT-shaped rockerarm Z, pivoted to a shaft 11, connected to the forwardends of the bars c e', and around the shaft 11 isl a spring 12, with oneend of the same connected to the shaft and the other end to therocker-arm 11, the tendency of the said spring being to elevate the freeend of the rocker-arm, upon which free end there is a roller 18.

A guide-frame 8 is connected to and projects from the frame a of themachine, the under surface of the same being a runway for the roller 1S,and in this guide-frame is a cam m with aspring-actuated nose m', therockerarm Z being swung by the combined action of the guide-frame s andthe cam m, the said roller running on the under side of the guideframe,passing by the nose m', which yields for the same, then underrunning thesaid nose and cam, and finally running off the end of the cam m andspringing upward to the under side 0f the guide-frame 3. In thismovement the said rocker-arm Z moves the links 13 and 14 and the bars 7and S to impart to the hollow shaft 3 and shaft 4 through the rockerarms5 a partial rotary motion, which will open and shut the grippers at theproper time.

The hinged separators or suction-boxesvl have links 17 pivoted to theirupper surfaces, and upon the table-sections cZ bell-crank levers 16 arepivoted, the arms of the same in turn being pivoted to the links 17 andto the bars n and n. The bar u is slotted at the end opposite to thatconnected to the link Zt', and the bar n is pivoted to the first of thebell-crank levers by a pin passing through the slot of the bar a andpivoted directly to all the other bell-crank levers, there being onebell-crank lever for each of the signatureholding boxes andsuction-boxes. This device for raising and lowering the suctionboxes issimply illustrative, it being a fact that other and equivalent means maybe employed with equal facility. In the movement of these parts themortise-lever f as operated by the crank g moves in first one directionand then in the other. In its motion from the position shown in Fig. 3the slotted bar 'a is moved along until the end of the slot comesagainst the pivot of the first bell-crank lever. The force of the saidmovement is then exerted lthrough the said pivot'and the bar n' to allof the bell-crank levers simultaneously to raise all the suction-boxes,and in the return movement the said barfais operated alone until theouter end of the slot is reached, when all the suction-boxes aresimultaneously moved and lowered.

The suction-pipes 10 are respectively connected to the sides of thesuction-boxes or hinged separators t' at their upper ends, and adjacentto their lower ends and above the exhaust-pipe 7c are valves 19,of-suitable form and operated by any desired mechanism so as to permitthe suction action to be in effect at the right moment. In the operationof the device, with reference to Fig. 4, the suctionboxes each occupy anormal position against the under surface of the lowermost signatures atthe folded or back edge, and when the suction is brought into effect thelowermost Sig,- natures are held against the Aupper surfaces of the saidsuction-boxes. At this time the bars a a', the bell-crank levers 16, andlink 17 are brought into operation to depress or lower the suction-boxesand in so doing bend down the rear edges of the lowermost signa-` tures.After this movement is effected, or practically simultaneouslytherewith, the grippers r are opened, by means of the bars 7 8,rocker-arms 5 (i, the links 13 and 14, the T-shaped rocker-arm Z, andthe cam m, to engage the folded-back edges of the signatures and holdthe same securely. In Fig. 1 the suction-boxes are shown as depressedand the grippers as in engagement with the foldedback edges of thesignatures.

The forward movement of the bars e and c will in this position draw thelowermost signatures out of the boxes and from beneath the superposedpiles of signatures until the signatures aro clear and their free endshave fallen down between the plates 15 on the endless belt p over thetable o. In the mean- `time the rocker-arm Z, with its roller 18, has

advanced and the roller has passed down the incline of the guide-frame sand beneath the nose m' and the grippers have been opened sufficient todrop the signatures entirely upon the table o. The grippers are keptopen while the roller 18 travels along the under side of the camm.

As soon as the signatures are free from the suction-boxes and before theforward move= ment is entirelycompleted the bar n actuates the bar a'and the bell-crank levers and links to raise the suction-boxes andsimultaneously the suction is applied. This position of thesuction-boxes is maintained while the roller 18 is traveling on theunder side of the cam m and before the same leaves the cam. In thereverse movement the bar n actuates the bar u, the bell-crank. levers,and links to depress the suction-boxes with other signatures held to thesurfaces thereof. The grippers in the meantime are open, and as openadvance over the foldedV rear edges of the various signatures in theirdepressed position, and when the roller 18 runs off the rear end of thecam m and the spring 12 elevates the same the grippers are closed uponthe signatures to repeat the operations.

It is to be understood that some of the minor details of mechanism, andwhich are not necessary for the operation or for the understanding ofthis invention, are not illustrated iu the drawings nor described in thespecification.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination in a signature-gatheringmachine with a range of boxes for holding superposed signatures,suction-boxes and loo` means for raising and lowering the same tocaisses carry down the folded-back edges of the low- /ermost signatures,of a gripping device for each box composed of a slotted hollow shaft, agripping-finger attached thereto, a shaft passing through said hollowshaft, a grippingfinger attached to said shaft and passing Y through theslot in said hollow shaft and adjacent to the finger thereon, means foroperating said shafts to open and close said iingers, and means formoving the gripping device bodily, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination in a signature-gathering machine with a range ofboxes for holding piles of superposed signatures and suction-boxespivoted thereto and means for moving the suction-boxes to carry down therear edges of the lowermost signatures, of grippers in pairs, devicesupon which the grippers are mounted, longitudinally-movable bars towhich the said devices are pivoted whereby the pairs of grippers areconnected and moved lengthwise of the machine, rockerarms connected tothe carriers of the grippers, bars pivoted to the said rocker-arms,links pivoted to the forward free ends of the said bars, and means forimparting to the said links andthe said bars movements to open andhshutthe grippers, substantiallyr as set fort grippers in pairs, devices uponwhich the grippers are mounted, longitudinally movable bars to which thesaid devices are pivoted whereby the pairs of grippers are connected andmoved lengthwise of the machine,rockerarms connectedto the carriers ofthe grippers, bars pivoted to the said rocker-arms, links pivoted to theforward free ends of the said bars and a T-shaped rocker-arm pivoted tothe bars carrying the gripper-holding devices and pivoted to the forwardends of the aforesaid links and carrying a roller at its free end, aguide-frame on the under side of which the said roller travels and a camand springnose within the guide-frame for actuating the rocker-arm andthe devices connected therewith for periodically opening and shuttingthe grippers, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 25th day of August, 1899.

JOSEPH E. SMYTH. Witnesses M. J. OKELLY, WILLIAM B. WARD.

